If you were planning an outdoor activity today, you might be better off with a board game.

After one of the coldest nights for an August Bank Holiday weekend on record, today will see most of us sheltering from heavy rain, with some areas colder than Lapland.

Sub-zero temperatures were recorded in Northern Ireland early yesterday, while rural Oxfordshire saw them plummet to within a couple of degrees of freezing.

Today’s heavy rain sweeping across the South is likely to cause travel chaos – as Bank Holiday travellers return home – and disruption to events such as the Notting Hill Carnival, forecasters warned.

Gloom: Just one beachgoer can bear to remove his shirt as clouds roll over Southsea, Hampshire, bringing the first showers of a country-wide downpour tomorrow

You might have some use of that towel after all... The first pitter-patters of rain were hitting Treyarnon Bay, Cornwall, already this afternoon

Wet: A woman uses her jacket to shield herself from the rain at the Polzeath Beach in Cornwall. The rain will spread across the UK and turn heavy over the next 24 hours

Some areas will be deluged by as much
as 1.5in as temperatures struggle to get much higher than an autumnal
12-13C (54F), buffeted by winds of up to 40mph.

The Met Office’s Simon Partridge
said: ‘The South will see a good 18 hours’ on-and-off rain, with rain
actually falling for 12 to 15 hours of that time, unfortunately.’

Yellow weather warnings of heavy rain
were issued for Wales and much of England. Brian Gaze of forecasting
service The Weather Outlook added: ‘Monday could be very miserable
indeed … It looks the worst of the three weekend days.’

Determined: But at least one surfer at Polzeath had found another use for her board as the rain started lashing Britain's western extremities this afternoon

True gentleman: A visitor to Polzeath beach chivalrously holds his umbrella over his partner as she and a friend drag a baby's buggy through the sodden sands

Anyone for ice cream? Anyone? ... A lonely ice-cream seller looks around for customers at Treyarnon Bay, but it seems most would rather something hot

It was only a few degrees off England’s August record of -2C (28.4F).

Today’s temperatures will be a little
better, but could be the coolest August Bank Holiday Monday in decades –
and colder than Kemi, on the borders of the Finnish Lapland region,
predicted to be 17C (62.6F).

Pictures
yesterday showed the Yorkshire and Derbyshire swathed in mist, while
there were anecdotal reports of early morning fog as far south as the
London commuter belt.

Bookies are shortening odds that this Bank Holiday is going to be the coldest ever.

Ladbrokes
is offering odds of just 4/6 that temperatures plummet below -2C
somewhere in England, Wales and Northern Ireland before midnight on bank
holiday Monday, breaking the record set in Northumberland in 1994.

Sky high: These festival goers take in one of the rides in Leeds; their gumboots are a fitting accessory given how grey the sky is behind them

To infinity and beyond: This music fan took a different approach to weather appropriate clothing at the Leeds Festival, opting for a Buzz Lightyear costume rather than gumboots and a rain jacket

Ready for the rain: A woman helps a male companion put on a poncho at the Leeds festival, as two less weather conscious men stroll past enjoying a drink

Well prepared: These Leeds festival goers took different approaches to wet weather footwear, with one opting for gumboots while the other simply bagged up their shoes

Hands up if you're having fun: Music fans swarm towards the Hive's front man during their set at Reading, as he leans backwards to avoid getting grabbed

Despite weather warnings, the chances of record rainfall look much slimmer however at 20/1 with the 135mm that fell in Aber, Wales in 1986 not likely to be surpassed.

Those who think the weather forecasters have been unduly pessimistic can take evens that a peak temperature of over 20C is registered somewhere before the holiday is out.

Alex Donohue of Ladbrokes said: 'This year's August bank holiday looks set to break records for all the wrong reasons. Sadly, it's now long odds-on that the best of the weather has passed for the year.'

Misty Sunrise at Long Preston, near Settle, North Yorkshire, on Sunday morning as temperatures across the country dropped to autumnal lows

An icy mist clings to the earth as the sun rises near Skipton, north Yorkshire: Tomorrow most of England and Wales will be soaked by heavy downpours

Chilly: Low cloud clings to the lowest points of the Derbyshire countryside near Tissington just before dawn after a cold night in the Peak District

Derbyshire: Met Office forecaster Kirk Waite denied that it was going to be the worst Bank Holiday weekend ever, but did grant that the conditions were 'unsettled'

Met Office forecaster Kirk Waite denied that it was going to be the worst Bank Holiday weekend ever, but did grant that the conditions were 'unsettled'.

'We do have some outbreaks of rain currently pushing into the South West of the country,' he said. 'While these are sporadic at the moment we are expecting wet and windy conditions overnight and into tomorrow.'

'We do have a Yellow 'be aware' Warning in place for most of England and Wales,' he said, which is due to an area of low pressure pushing in from the west.

He said the warning should especially be heeded by anyone hoping to make day trips on the Bank Holiday, since 'this is going to lead to some unpleasant travelling conditions.'

He added: 'It's going to be for much of England and Wales quite an unpleasant Bank Holiday. However, if you're in Scotland, whilst it's not a Bank Holiday, things are going to be much nicer. It's not going to be warm, but it's going to be a lot clearer.'

In the medium term, according to Mr Waite, the heavy train would 'sink away' but there would still be lingering showers on Tuesday. On Wednesday many parts would start dry, but cloudy.

'But we are expecting the rain to come back on Thursday and it's going to stay a little unsettled towards the end of the month.'

Netweather forecaster Nick Finnis said: 'A change is looming for the new week, as Atlantic low pressure systems queue up to bring rather wet and windy weather at times, particularly across England, Wales and Ireland [on Monday] and Tuesday and across most of the UK later in the week.

'A cloudy start to what will be a generally cloudy Bank Holiday Monday across England and Wales, with occasional outbreaks of rain spreading northeast reaching most parts during the morning.

'The rain turning heavy and persistent at times across Wales and southern England - where we could see as much as 30-40mm [1.5ins] fall by the end of the day.